Faces of the Moon
by Lomesa
Summary: The moon is constant. It does not change, it only shows us a different part of its face each night. Love can be like that too, sometimes. A series of one related one shots. Also my interpretation of the Sess/Rin relationship. A fic written for those who would go down with this ship... and for those who would like to be the one sinking it.
1. Prologue: Family Reunion

**Prologue: Family Reunion**

"**Haven't you ever been in a fairy tale before?"**

**-Peter S. Beagle, "The Last Unicorn"**

It was a large gathering and the old woman struggled to make herself heard above the exuberant joy of a family finding each other in the stormy sea of life, swept together by a family tradition. A too short weekend spent camping every three years.

"Silence." The voice came from outside the cosy circle of grandparents with their grandchildren on their laps, cousins roasting marshmallows and parents boasting about their children's achievements.

Their heads turned in unison and silence descended. The man was sitting against the tree, one leg bent at the knee and the other stretched out in front of him. To most of the people sitting around the fire that afternoon the image was a familiar one, a part of their earliest memories.

The old woman thanked him with a smile and the lifetime of laughter written in the lines around her eyes. The man bowed his dark head and waited.

The woman glanced at her loved ones gathered in front of her, some of them squinting slightly in the orange light of the late afternoon.

"Our story starts-"

"Story? Like a fairy tale? I thought this was something that actually happened? Not just a pretty lie told to children." Her newest son-in-law asked. One of her granddaughters kicked him in the shin.

"Does it matter?" Her daughter said, quickly, rubbing his back as he cradled his leg. "Storytellers tell lies to show us the truth…" She noticed the glares directed at her husband and then added, "Unlike politicians, who use lies to cover it up." There was some laughter around the fire and a few more jokes regarding certain government officials were told. When good humour was restored, the old woman began again.

"Our story starts…"

Dear reader a.k.a. Sess/Rin lover or hater

This story will offer an alternate interpretation of the Sesshoumaro/Rin relationship. Please read with an open minded attitude. That is all I ask. Wait a minute, I'm lying. I'd also like reviews.

Awaiting your feedback eagerly,

Lomesa


	2. New Moon (Part 1)

**Chapter 1: New Moon Part 1**

**"Unicorns are for beginnings," he said, "for innocence and purity, for newness. Unicorns are for young girls."**

Molly was stroking the unicorn's throat as timidly as though she were blind. She dried her grimy tears on the white mane. "You don't know much about unicorns," she said."

**-Peter S. Beagle, "The Last Unicorn"**

Our story starts, like these stories often do, with a young girl who has nothing. Nothing except the bell ringing in her name. That bell has been silent for the longest time. She is running through a forest, following a star that was falling in the middle of the day. It must have woken too early, she decides, and tripped because it was still sleepy. She makes a wish on it anyway.

She comes to a sudden stop when she sees something beneath a tree. She starts to cry because, like all the things she has treasured in her life, her wish is dead.

All she wants is a small piece of a fairy tale, something to take her away from the horror of everyday life. Life in the village was brown. Brown like the dirt on her face and hands, brown like the colour of the worn dresses the women wore. Brown like the stinking mud in the market place, brown like the tired sunburnt faces of the men. Brown like her blood when it dried after a beating.

White was the rarest of colours. She has spent hours watching clouds, marvelling at the newness, the purity of the unreachable puffs of white. Sometimes, even though she knew she would never be able to touch them, she would stretch out her hand to the sky and hold her breath in anticipation.

Her wish-creature was blindingly white. It had even torn off a long strip of cloud as it fell. She neared it slowly, images of her mother, her father, her brothers flashing in front of her eyes. Dead. All dead like the beautiful white corpse in front of her.

She wipes her nose on a dirty sleeve and she swallows the scream stuck in her throat. She is terribly sorry that she killed it by wanting it. She did not mean for it to die. She reaches out towards its strange white hair. It flows through her fingers like water, unlike her own tangled mass of everyday black. She can give him nothing but her tears as an apology so she sheds them in abundance. By the time she stops her handful of hair is wet from her crying.

She leaves the dead wish stained with her tears reluctantly. It feels like leaving a plucked flower in the field. To her it is a terrible sin. But she is hungry and it will not do to be out in the forest after dark.

She does not find much to eat. She never seems to find enough and the emptiness in her belly has become as familiar as the aching, hollow place in her heart where her family used to be.

On her way home she finds herself back at the clearing. She had not meant to return to this place. So when her wish springs to life with all the suddenness of a lock clinking shut on its chain she is too surprised to be scared of its demonic red eyes and the growl issuing from its throat.

Dear Reader

What do you think so far? Do you like Rin's idea of how Sesshomaru ended up beneath that tree?

This fic will be divided into 5 parts (new moon, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous and lastly full moon). Each part is divided into 4 chapters, representing the number of days each phase lasts. Each chapter will probably be about 500 words long.


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